Man drowns despite surfers' aid

15th July 2009

SURFERS have come to the aid of a fisherman washed off rocks on the Gold Coast on Wednesday, but their efforts were in vain.

©iStockphoto.com/Daniel Timiraos

SURFERS formed a rescue raft out of their boards to get a fisherman to shore after he was washed off rocks on the Gold Coast but were unable to save him.

Witnesses said the 69-year-old fisherman, believed to have been a Japanese man who lived locally, was caught by a large wave and washed off rocks into the ocean at Currumbin Alley, at about 11am (AEST) on Wednesday.

Nearby surfers who saw the man disappear into the water found him and dragged him onto a raft, which they formed out of their surfboards, and paddled back to shore.

A police spokeswoman said once the local surfers brought the unconscious man back to Currumbin beach they immediately began CPR.

When ambulance officers arrived they continued to try to revive the man but he died at the scene, she said.

Witnesses say the man's family arrived at the scene not long after he died and were in a distraught state.

Police will prepare a report for the coroner.

The Gold Coast has been hammered by a large swell over the past few days, whipped up by wind gusts of up to 60km/h.